Chapter 720
Tududuk.
Half of the torn metal mask rolled across the dirt floor.
While all the spectators stared with eyes about to pop out, only Simon, who had caused the incident, calmly adjusted his attire and straightened his posture.
A heavy silence lingered.
[......Indeed.]
Ballack, who had been sitting down, stretched out his thick hand and grabbed half of the mask.
[So you had at least a minimum fallback. Did you intend to collude with Aizel using such petty tricks to maintain the position of Student Council President?]
“What nonsense are you spouting.”
Simon’s tone dropped coldly.
“I, of course, intended to fight with my own strength. It’s true that Senior Aizel was burdened by the position of president, but neither of us ever thought of manipulating the outcome.”
His gaze froze over with icy sharpness.
“You suddenly barged in and ruined everything, Ballack.”
[I saw Aizel’s true nature.]
Ballack stood up. He melted the broken surface of the mask with poison, then attached it to the other half.
[His entire life was a lie, our vow was a lie, the blood and sweat we shed together was a lie.]
A huge magic circle appeared behind his back.
[I should have done this long ago, everything was delayed because I tried to preserve his honor. Now, I shall take Keyzen for myself!]
<Death Armor>
The poison flowing out of the magic circle quickly engulfed Ballack’s body. Seeing this, Dick shouted.
“Simon! You have to strip off Senior Ballack’s Death Armor! The more the Death Armor stacks, the more kinds of black magic he can use...... ugh!”
He quickly ducked low to avoid a sudden fountain of poison bursting upward.
Kuung–
Kung–
Ballack, clad in seething poison as if it were clothing, walked toward Simon. Simon too slowly took a stance, running his thoughts quickly.
‘That earlier Magical Combat was a surprise attack, and luck was on my side. The same trick won’t work against Ballack.’
Having reached a decision, Simon deployed a magic circle.
From the moment Ballack had intruded, a violet magic circle had been preparing, moving rapidly around Simon’s body, building itself up steadily.
‘Hold out according to plan.’
[Suddenly turned timid, where has your bravado gone?]
Ballack gestured.
Feeling a chilling sensation, Simon swiftly rolled his eyes to the side.
‘A pipe?’
Suddenly, a pipe hole had popped out in midair.
Pwhoooaaahhh!
The moment Simon dropped his stance low, a torrent of poison gushed from the pipe.
“What the—!”
[Dodged it by sight, did you.]
Ballack cast black magic again. Pipes opened up in various places in the air, spewing poison savagely. It was as if faucets had been nailed into the air and squeezed to pour out their contents.
‘Ballack’s Fulgor!’
It was entirely different in type from Aizel’s Fulgor.
Simon darted to the side, electricity crackling in his hands. The instant he sensed the omen of a new pipe forming, he thrust his hand in that direction.
<Cancel Spark>
A round current of darkness burst out, destroying the pipe just before it could form.
Wherever he couldn’t destroy them in time, pipes sprouted, and Simon had to dodge the poison with his own body.
‘Tch!’
Some poison splashed on him, but enduring it, Simon prepared a new black magic. Bone parts burst from his body, linking together into three spears that flew toward Ballack.
<Bone Spear>
That was Simon’s best counterattack while still preparing black magic. But Ballack just took it head-on.
The deadly Bone Spears slammed into the Death Armor, but their tips melted away. The spear shafts, robbed of their points, clattered helplessly to the ground.
“Simon!”
Kamibarez cried urgently and tried to run to him, but the expanding swamp of poison blocked everyone’s steps.
“Stop it already, Ballack! You’re going too far!”
One of the third-years shouted. By now the poison had surged close to where they were standing.
“Are you insane? There’s royalty here!”
“Damn it! Have you ever seen that bastard stop once he rampages and ignores people’s words?”
One third-year stretched out his hand. Darkness quickly moved, shaping itself into a curse.
“In that case, we’ll just have to use force...... uwaaahk!”
Cheolssseooeok!
The poison pooled on the ground shot upward like a geyser.
And from the waterfalls of poison that had formed into barriers, poisonous summons even rose.
Gloop, gloop, gloop!
“S-stop them!”
The third-years hurriedly blocked the falling poison with defensive magic and struck down the poisonous summons moving toward the juniors.
“Raise the ground! Quick!”
“Got it!”
One of the third-years slammed his hand onto the ground. Whether he used ‘Dark Earth Field’ or not, the terrain beneath the spectators quickly rose upward. The swamp of poison lashed against the cliffside, splashing violently.
“What on earth are you doing, Senior Leonard!”
Maelyn, too, cleverly raised an ice wall to block the poisonous wave, then shouted.
“Help Simon! You’re the strongest among us!”
“......Sorry, but if I step in, Ballack will kill Aizel.”
Leonard was casting black magic on the unconscious Aizel.
“Aizel was poisoned by ‘Black Death Poison’. It spreads according to the caster’s will. His life is in Ballack’s hands.”
“......Ah.”
Thud!
Someone collapsed. It was Princess Molly. Kamibarez and several third-years rushed to her side.
“Princess!”
“This is bad!”
Molly, only a first-year, had not yet learned the ‘Resistance-type’ techniques against poison. She was suffering just from the toxic air.
“Move, move! Specialist coming through!”
Dick pulled out a detox kit, and Leonard, leaving Aizel behind, cast black magic to slow the poison’s spread in Molly’s body.
“Simon......!”
Maelyn, who had incinerated approaching poisonous summons with black flames, bit her lip hard. From far away, beyond the swamp of poison cutting them off, Simon and Ballack were locked in a fierce battle.
[Is that all you have, Student Council President.]
Simon frantically dodged the poison pouring from the pipes. Meanwhile Ballack had already layered two more armors onto himself.
<Ballack’s Original – Death Armor, 3rd Stage>
His body swelled thick and grotesque.
It was like wearing a living creature instead of armor. When he raised his hand, the poison gushing from the pipes ignored physics, gathering into a mass in his hand, then shooting at Simon.
“Ugh!”
Simon leapt up, stepping on a Bone Armor midair to avoid it. Sweat beaded across his forehead.
[The longer this drags on, the less chance you have of winning.]
“.......”
Sweat dripped down as his bangs fell forward, and Simon let out a cool smile.
“That’s just your opinion.”
Thud!
From a hole in the sky, a giant dropped down beside Simon. One knee to the ground, both hands gripping a massive greatsword.
Simon’s proud trump card. Chaos Dullahan. From afar, Dick’s voice rang out, “It’s finally here!”
Simon immediately placed Manus’ skull onto the Chaos Dullahan, then moved behind it to attach a chaos magic circle.
That moment.
‘!’
He sensed a massive omen beneath his feet. Without doubt, the sensation of Fulgor. In that instant of a split-second, Simon hesitated, then retreated.
Kuwaaaaaaahhhk!
It was the right choice.
From beneath the Chaos Dullahan, a poison volcano erupted, swallowing it whole.
“Ah!”
“The Dullahan!”
The student council members turned pale. The poison volcano, which had erupted without any preparatory pipes, was so powerful it pierced the sky and struck the ceiling of the barrier.
[Predictable.]
Ballack let out a slow voice from inside his metal mask.
[So, that toy, I wondered when you would bring it out. I too waited, holding back my own trump card.]
“Ballack......!”
[You should have realized that I was controlling the pace. You lack experience, Simon Follentia.]
Ballack knew about Simon’s Chaos Dullahan.
He once again prepared his black magic. The poisons around him gathered, transforming into material for Ballack’s armor.
<Ballack’s Original – Death Armor, 5th Stage>
[Despair at the difference in strength.]
Skipping the 4th, the fifth armor was instantly completed, and the poisonous swamp spreading across the ground began to seethe and bubble.
Simon looked straight ahead. The body of the Chaos Dullahan, buried in poison, could no longer move.
“......Fixing this will get me scolded by Senior Benya.”
Simon sighed deeply, his eyes flashing.
The Chaos Dullahan had been destroyed, but in his hand, Manus’ skull remained intact.
“Let’s pay him back.”
Simon muttered, and Manus’ skull gleamed as if in agreement.
Wooooooong!
Simon unfolded all the magic circles he had been preparing in the air.
“Dragon magic.”
The circles converged, and the dragon magic interpreted through chaos was unleashed. Soon, with clattering sounds, Drake's bones dropped from subspace onto the ground.
“Control this new body, Manus.”
At the center of the dragon magic, Manus’ skull took its place, and the Drake’s bones flew in.
Click! Clack!
The bones expanded, forming armor. As Simon walked forward, the skeletal armor covered his body.
“He summoned another creature!”
“Wasn’t the Dullahan his limit?”
While casting black magic, Simon recalled Aron’s voice.
—In ages past, humans fought dragons. Dominating mankind with dragon speech and magic, they were apex predators, but as time passed, those who could resist the dragons’ power appeared.
Lastly, a helmet made of a Drake’s skull locked onto Simon’s head.
—They all wore dragon bones on their bodies, imitating dragon magic. People honored them with a single name.
Eyes gleaming within dragon bones that could never become a true dragon, Simon blazed.
<Simon’s Original – Dragonian>
Kiiiiiiiiiiing!
Darkness surged across Simon’s body.
[Pathetic! No matter what suit you bring out, the result will not change!]
Ballack raised both arms, folding them together.
<Ballack’s Original – Venom Fang>
The strongest technique available once the 5th-stage armor was donned.
Simon felt Fulgor flaring from every direction. Immediately, poison poured from all of space without a gap, engulfing Simon.
Kuwaaaaaaaaah!
An attack impossible to dodge or block.
“Simon!!”
The urgent cries of the student council members rang out. Protecting the juniors from the surging poisonous waves, Leonard furrowed his brow and murmured.
“It’s fine. He’s still alive.”
From within the maelstrom of poison, the silhouette of a man appeared. The poisonous storm weakened, and at last, vanished.
“Hoo.”
Simon exhaled a solemn breath. His body was now covered with alien, hexagonal, violet scales that glittered like rubies.
It was like a shield shaped in a honeycomb pattern.
Ballack’s expression twisted upon seeing it.
‘How did he nullify Venom Fang?’
Simon, clad in the Dragonian Armor, raised his arm. At once, a greatsword made of Drake’s spine materialized in his grasp.
He let the blade hang low, then leapt forward, lowering his stance.
[It’s useless.]
Ballack immediately cast black magic. A gigantic hole opened in the sky, beyond any pipe, and from within it, a meteor of poison rained down.
In response, Simon drew the scales spread in the air together, binding them to his greatsword.
<Simon’s Original – Armor Blade>
‘No need to panic.’
The moment he grasped the sword, Manus’ will reacted.
The realm of a true swordmaster.
Trusting that, he swung with all his might.
Hwaaaaaaak!
Though it was only a single strike, Manus’ experience and karma infused it, unfolding as the ultimate form of the blade.
The slash split the poison meteor, and the scales attached to the sword vaporized every drop of poison.
[!]
Simon reached Ballack, ready to cleave him with a roar.
‘Behind me!’
He felt Fulgor surge from behind.
The greatest strength of Simon’s new weapon, ‘Dragonian’, was all-around defense. Instantly, the scales shifted from the sword to his back, blocking the poison pouring from a pipe.
But then—
Grab!
In that instant, Ballack seized the Drake greatsword with his poison-formed hand.
[Nothing can stop me!]
Chwaaaaaaah!
The bony sword of the Drake began to melt. Simon, unconcerned, released his grip on the weapon and charged barehanded into Ballack’s chest.
Scales clung to his fist, shimmering violet. Simon pulled his arm back, fist tight.
[Physical attacks cannot possibly—!]
Buuuuuuuk!
He struck.
With a single blow, the thick 5th-stage Death Armor shattered, and Simon’s fist struck Ballack’s body directly.
[Guahk!]
Blood gushed from Ballack’s metal mask.
All around, heated cries burst out, echoing like a roaring tide.
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